AO Management Re-Competition Statement of Principles
31st March 2009 The ASAP Board represents a broad cross-section of
scientists with extensive experience and knowledge of the scientific
capabilities, accomplishments and potential of the Arecibo Observatory
(AO). From this perspective, the Board recommends that entities
proposing to manage the Observatory recognize and promote the
following mission and principles, and endeavor to operate the AO
accordingly: Mission Statement: "To optimize and enhance the unique
scientific capabilities, productivity and educational impact of the
Arecibo Observatory in each of its three principal areas of effort,
radio astronomy, space & atmospheric sciences, and radar astronomy"

First: The Arecibo Observatory is a National Science
Foundation (NSF) facility well known nationally and internationally for
its uniquely sensitive instrument and thus exceptional capabilities for
radio/radar astronomy and space/atmospheric studies. Following the
Gregorian upgrading and the ALFA multi-beam feed installation, the
Arecibo telescope is essentially a new instrument and places high on any
short list of the world's great radio telescopes. A broad range of
leading, highly competitive and cost-effective scientific programs have
been founded on the AO's unique capabilities and depend critically on
them. The scientific programs of the Arecibo Observatory have long been
operated under the NSF open skies policy. As long as federal funds are
the primary source of its operational budget, its national status and
open skies policy should be continued by any managing entity. Second:
The staff of the Arecibo Observatory makes its scientific and
educational work possible. Staff cuts and attrition over the last three
years have devastated the AO staff, resulting in a staffing level which
is now dangerously thin and patently unsustainable. Moreover, the
anticipated management recompetition exacerbates and extends this
situation, making staff retention and recruitment even more difficult
over the next 18 or so months. The present Arecibo staff possesses a
wealth of expertise and understanding of the operations of the
Observatory, and retaining these highly skilled and loyal employees will
ensure a smooth transition into a new cooperative agreement. Management
proposals should strive to maintain current staffing expertise, and seek
to rebuild the staff to a sustainable level of service in all three
areas. Furthermore, measures should be taken to address essential
staffing continuity across future 5-year management agreements. As a
national facility, AO's scientific role is appropriately a national one.
AO should thus continue to recruit its staff and postdocs through
national and international competition.

Third: Similarly, as a national facility, AO's
educational mission remains a national one. AO has traditionally
involved both graduate and undergraduate students as well as postdocs in
research, though a variety of means—fellowships, the REU programs and
relationships with researchers at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs),
universities and other institutes—and many such people have gone on to
occupy prominent positions in the scientific infrastructure of the US.
Cultivating graduate and undergraduate students as future researchers in
radio astronomy, aeronomy, and planetary radar is an important aspect of
the Observatory's operation that should continue. Management proposals
should draw on the expertise of established users situated in both PUIs
and universities, both in Puerto Rico and on the mainland, since PUIs
are very important in educating and mentoring large numbers of future
scientists.

Fourth: Arecibo Observatory is also a major and
prominent research facility in Latin America. It is much prized in
Puerto Rico, and its Visitor Center is a major educational facility in
this region, being visited by hundreds of thousands of local residents
and tourists each year. This unique and prominent position should also
be recognized, maintained and cultivated. Any managing entity should
therefore cultivate strong relationships with Puerto Rican institutions
including the Commonwealth government. It is even possible that some
ancillary funding may be available from local sources; however, as a
national NSF facility, the primary funding responsibility remains a
national one.

Fifth: Given current funding uncertainties, local
staff has been active in seeking local partnerships with Puerto Rican
institutions. Such activities seek to maximize AO's educational impact
in a region of the country underrepresented in science. These imply
cooperation with local colleges and universities and greater interaction
with their students. Future manager of the AO should encourage such
arrangements.

Sixth: The organization managing the AO must put
adequate resources into long term planning for the technical, scientific
and educational excellence of the AO. As such opportunities change
continuously, such planning requires serious and sustained attention.
Positive examples of such planning are the ALFA feed array and the new
ionospheric heating facility. Any managing organization therefore needs
to be sensitive to such demands on the Observatory, and on the ways in
which they can be addressed by creative planning, external partnerships
and consortia so as to sustain and enhance AO's scientific productivity
throughout its useful life.

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The ASAP Board stands ready to assist and
advise all organizations proposing to manage the Arecibo Observatory so
as to enhance the scientific productivity and stature of this great
instrument.